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“They sent forth men to battle. But no such men return; And home, to claim their welcome. Comes ashes in an urn.” — Ode from “Agamemnon,” Aeschylus Aeschylus—who had actually fought at Marathon in 490 BC, the battle that defeated the first Persian invasion of Greece—had few illusions about the consequences of war. His ode is one that the candidates for …

“There is one masterpiece, the hexagonal cell, that touches perfection. No living creature, not even man, has achieved, in the centre of his sphere, what the bee has achieved in her own: and were some one from another world to descend and ask of the earth the most perfect creation of the logic of life, we should needs have to …

For more than two millennia, friendship has been lauded as a key to personal fulfillment. Many of the most memorable works of western literature celebrate friendship. Achilles and Patroclus, David and Jonathan, and Damon and Pythias are only a few of the famous literary depictions of intimate friendship. Many today fear that a hyper-individualistic, highly mobile society has undermined the capacity for …